INDIANAPOLIS – East Carolina, Houston, USF and Tulane will represent The American in the 2015 NCAA Baseball Championship, as the bracket was unveiled Monday afternoon.
American Athletic Conference champion East Carolina will be the No. 2 seed in the Coral Gables Regional, hosted by Miami (Fla.) The Hurricanes will be the No. 1 seed in the regional and open against No. 4 seed FIU, while the Pirates will begin play against Ivy League champion Columbia.
The Pirates went 4-0 at The American Championship in Clearwater, Florida, winning the conference championship with a 9-1 victory over Houston to give ECU its 40
th win of the year under first-year head coach Cliff Godwin. East Carolina has won eight straight games entering the NCAA Championship and is 20-5 since April 12.
Houston will host a regional at Cougar Field after winning 42 games and The American regular-season title. Three regular-season opponents will visit Cougar Field, including two from within the city limits in No. 2 seed Rice and No. 4 seed Houston Baptist. No. 3 seed Louisiana-Lafayette fills out the regional, which is the first hosted by Houston since 2000.
The Cougars advanced to the final game of The American Championship and are 34-11 since March 8. Houston has represented The American in the NCAA Championship in both of its years in the conference and has the second consecutive 40-win season under head coach Todd Whitting.
USF will head to Gainesville, Florida, in a regional with three other in-state foes. The Bulls are the No. 3 seed in the regional hosted by Florida. USF will face No. 2 seed Florida Atlantic to open regional play, while the No. 1 seed Gators will face No. 4 seed Florida A&M.
The Bulls played the No. 9-ranked strength of schedule in the nation in 2015 and won 33 games under first-year head coach Mark Kingston. USF played six of the 16 regional hosts during the regular season with wins over three of them - Cal State Fullerton, Houston and Illinois.
Tulane is in as the No. 3 seed in the Baton Rouge Regional. The Green Wave will look for its second win of the year over No. 2 seed UNC Wilmington to open regional play after an 8-4 victory March 31. No. 1 seed LSU is the host and will face No. 4 seed Lehigh to begin the weekend.
The Green Wave has won 34 games entering the NCAA Championship and finished third in The American during the regular season under first-year head coach David Pierce. Eight of Tulane’s wins during the regular season came against the Field of 64, while the team’s nine shutouts rank third in the nation.
Regional play begins Friday, May 29, and runs through the weekend. Sixteen teams will qualify for best-of-three Super Regionals with eight teams moving on to the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska from June 13-24.